Joss stared at him, his eyes darkened, every word cutting the air between them like a blade.

The Taste of Salt and Summer

The scent of the sea.

The humid gusts of a tropical summer storm, brushing over the rows of casuarina trees, sweeping grains of soft sand across Hua Hin's endless shores.

Under the crimson twilight, two children raced barefoot along the beach, their laughter echoing through space, through time, through memories too distant to grasp.

Joss closed his eyes.

He remembered.

He remembered everything.

When Everything Was Still Intact

When Joss was seven, his father had told him he had a fiancé.

"The most special Omega."

"Someone who has belonged to you even before they were born."

He hadn't understood what that meant.

Not until he saw the younger boy peeking shyly from behind his mother's legs—

Big dark eyes, soft hair, a fragile presence wrapped in innocence.

Gawin Caskey.

"He is your Omega."

And Joss had believed it.

From that day on, he believed Gawin was his.

The Origin of the Pact

The Wongthep Group and the Thanarath family had once not been rivals but allies.

Joss's father, Wongthep Sangngern, and Gawin's father, Thanarath Caskey, were college friends who founded a fledgling company together in a tiny rented room on the outskirts of Bangkok.

One desk.

One dream.

Together, they built a financial and tech empire.

Their friendship ran so deep that they arranged a marriage alliance between their children.

A perfect bond.

An unbreakable tie.

A naive promise—

But one that bound two young souls before they even knew the weight of such chains.

Joss and Gawin grew up inseparably.

In the golden afternoons of childhood, little Joss would chase after Gawin, calling his name, laughing like a sparrow soaring through endless skies.

But they were wrong.

Nothing in this world is truly unbreakable.

The Hua Hin Summer

Joss remembered it vividly—the summer he turned ten.

Their families vacationed at Hua Hin, a peaceful beach with crystal-clear waters.

That day, they had snuck away to a dangerous rocky beach—the kind adults warned them not to approach.

Joss had wanted to impress Gawin.

He had wanted to prove he could protect him.

So he jumped into the water, daring and reckless.

But he underestimated the sea.

A powerful wave crashed down, dragging him under.

He struggled.

Cold water filled his lungs.

The world became a blur of white foam and salt.

He thought he was going to die.

But then—

A small hand seized his wrist.

Gawin.

Tiny and trembling, but stubbornly refusing to let him go.

Gawin pulled him back, using all his little strength to keep Joss from being swept away.

For the first time,

Joss realized—

He wasn't the protector.

He was the one being saved.

The First Real Promise

When they were finally safe on the sand, Joss clung to Gawin without a word.

He shivered—not from fear, but from something deeper.

A bond.

Something stronger than any childish betrothal.

"One day, I'll always protect you."

For the first time, Joss made a real promise.

And Gawin believed him.

The Beginning of the End

Three years later, that promise became a joke.

When Gawin had just turned eight, a battle erupted between their families.

Dreams crumbled.

Friendships shattered.

And everything they thought was eternal... ended.

Gawin's father wanted to break away, to forge a new company focused on AI and renewable energy.

Joss's father opposed it—calling it reckless, dangerous.

They fought bitterly.

The company split.

The friendship dissolved.

The engagement was torn apart.

Gawin was forced to transfer schools.

Their families severed all ties.

Joss was forbidden to even say his name.

Witness to Betrayal

Only three years later, the Thanarath Group collapsed.

Whispers circled through the business world—

Whispers Joss overheard standing outside a closed-door family meeting:

"We can't save Thanarath."

"Business has no room for old friendships."

"He chose his downfall—he won't drag us down with him."

That night, Joss sat alone in his room, inhaling the overwhelming scent of his own pheromones—amber thick enough to choke him.

He didn't cry.

He simply sat there, frozen.

And wondered—

"Would Gawin think I betrayed him?"

He didn't know.

He only knew one thing:

The boy with the brilliant brown eyes had disappeared from his life.

Like a summer dream fading into winter frost.

The Aftermath

No one truly knew what had happened.

Only that a more powerful financial force had crushed the Thanarath Group.

Joss was too young to understand corporate wars.

All he knew—

Was that Gawin's father had once knelt before his father, begging for help.

And was turned away without mercy.

After that—

Gawin vanished.

Years of Searching in Vain

Joss tried to find him.

He scoured every lead, every rumor.

But all he ever found—

Was a single, fading clue.

McDowell High School.

A tiny mention.

A shadow.

And then nothing.

Gawin disappeared like mist.

No trail.

No answers.

No closure.

Only a hollow space in Joss's chest.

He tried filling it—

With work.

With casual lovers.

With endless successes.

But nothing ever filled the void.

Ten Years Later — He Had Everything But Him

At twenty-five, Joss became the youngest CEO in Thai business history.

He had power.

He had wealth.

He had hundreds worshipping at his feet.

But he didn't have Gawin.

He thought Gawin was dead.

He thought he'd buried that part of himself.

Until—

Fluke Wichit entered his life.

Those eyes.

The way Fluke looked at him—

Cold.

Distant.

But sometimes, when no one else could see, there was something else hidden there.

A thousand unspoken questions.

A thousand unshed tears.

Joss thought he was hallucinating.

But now he knew.

It wasn't a hallucination.

Gawin had returned.

Under a new name.

And with a heart full of knives.

A Circle That Never Truly Broke

Joss opened his eyes.

He was still standing alone in his office, staring out at the blurred city lights of Bangkok.

He had found him.

But he wasn't the same boy he once knew.

He wasn't the boy who clung to him by the beach, laughing under the sun.

He was a man now.

A man with secrets.

A man with scars.

Joss wanted to pull him back.

He wanted to punish him.

He wanted to shackle him so tightly that even hatred couldn't tear them apart.

Even knowing the truth—

He couldn't let go.

He wouldn't.

Not now.

Not ever.